Attitude of the Western Whigs 
Toward the Convention System 


BY 

CHARLES MANFRED THOMPSON 



Reprinted from the Proceedings of the 
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL 
ASSOCIATION, Volume V 





t 







ATTITUDE OF THE WESTERN WHIGS TOWARD 
THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 

By Chakles Manfred Thompson 

The present widespread agitation for the displacing 
of nominating conventions by preferential and mandatory 
primaries, is but a phase of the more general agitation 
for a change of government from a pure representative 
type to one in which the will of the people may be more 
quickly and etfectively expressed. The question of repre¬ 
sentative government, which is intimately bound up with 
the Constitution and its development, has been, and is 
now, receiving with an increased interest the attention of 
scholars, publicists, and statesmen; but the nominating 
convention, which is a logical otfshoot of the representa¬ 
tive form of American government has, until a very re¬ 
cent time, been the subject of minor consideration, par¬ 
ticularly as regards the attitude of one or the other of the 
great parties during the days of its infancy. The con¬ 
clusions herein drawn relate primarily to conditions in 
Illinois, but a study of the contemporary press of Ohio 
and Indiana seems to show that the Whigs in the three 
States held in general a similar attitude toward the con¬ 
vention system. 

National nominating conventions as they are known 
at the present time, first came into use for the purpose of 
expressing the will of a political party through chosen 
representatives, in the presidential campaign of 1832. 
The first in the field was that of the Anti-Masons. A little 
later the National Republicans held their convention, and, 
as had been predicted on all sides, selected Clay as their 
standard hearer. Last in point of time, but far more im¬ 
portant in results than the other two, was the Democratic 





ERRATA: For the date of the convention that nominated 
Buren for vice-president read 1833 instead of 1831. 


1 


168 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

Convention, which chose Van Buren for second place on 
the ticket headed by Jackson. 

The great importance of the Democratic Convention 
arises from the fact that in later years those factions of 
the Whig Party which opposed conventions in one form 
or another used as the basis of their arguments against 
the system, the well founded charge that the Democratic 
Convention of 1831 was not only packed with office-hold¬ 
ers and hence did not represent the people at large but 
that it used steam roller methods in nominating Van 
Buren.^ Particularly in the West, where Johnson had a 
comparatively strong following, was there considerable 
dissatisfaction with the Convention's choice for Vice 
President, and this hostile feeling was accentuated when 
it was considered that the East had been more than pro¬ 
portionally represented in that body which had so sum¬ 
marily dismissed the claims of the ‘‘slayer of Tecumseh’\ 
Even the anti-convention Whigs, who recognized a logical 
relationship between their own party and the old Nation¬ 
al Republicans, explained away the apparent inconsist¬ 
ency of their position by claiming that the body which 
had nominated Clay in 1831 was by no means a nominat¬ 
ing convention, but rather a meeting at which the oppo¬ 
nents of the administration met “to exchange senti¬ 
ments’’; and to support this argument they produced 
ample evidence from the contemporary anti-Jackson 
press.^ According to the statements of the opponents of 
the convention system. Clay’s selection was incidental 
and of secondary importance, for he was the only logical 
candidate of the party at that time. It was claimed, more¬ 
over, and with considerable truth, that the National Re¬ 
publican Convention was not, as was that held by the 
Democrats, composed of delegates, many of whom were 
under obligation not only to a political party with a num- 

^ Alton Telegraph, May 13, 1843. 

2 Utica Intelligencer (New York), August 17, 1830; Cincinnati Amer¬ 
ican, December 13, 1830. 


iAV 19 If 



THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


169 


ber of offices to be distributed, but wbat was more signi¬ 
ficant to a single and powerful individual.^ The last step 
in the argument against the convention system, and the 
one that appeared most forceful, was to show the inti¬ 
mate relation between the old Congressional caucus and a 
convention made up of office-holders. Without stopping 
to analyze these two institutions in order to discover 
where the arguments used to connect them are fallacious, 
it is enough to state that many in both parties believed 
that they were differing types of the same species — in¬ 
stitutions created by office-holders and professional poli¬ 
ticians for the purpose of defeating the sovereign will of 
the people. 

The most important immediate result of the opposi¬ 
tion to the convention that nominated Van Buren for the 
vice presidency in 1831, was a considerable accession to 
the ranks of the anti-administrationists.'^ In Illinois, 
where there had been a deep schism in the Democratic 
ranks over the Van Buren-Johnson contest, many of the 
latter’s friends denounced the methods used to defeat 
their champion, and soon after allied themselves with the 
opposition; and after the advent of the Whig Party in 
1834, it is this element that kept up the anti-convention 
fight long after the old line National Eepublican-Whigs 
had become reconciled to the convention system. The 
dictatorial and proscriptive methods of Jackson’s man¬ 
agers were no less in evidence in the convention of 1831 
than they had been in the administration of the govern¬ 
ment ; and on account of these methods, those members of 
the Democratic Party who w^ere becoming dissatisfied 
with the attitude of the administration toward national 
policies were forced into, or very near, the ranks of the 
opposition. 

Following the general scheme of defeating Van 

^ Alton Telegraphy May 13, 1843. 

Joseph Duncan was the most striking example in Illinois. See note 
at the end of this paper. 




170 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


Buren in 1836, by combining against him the strength of 
the favorite sons of many widely located sections, no Na¬ 
tional Whig Convention was held, and as far as the news¬ 
papers of Illinois disclose the fact, none was seriously 
considered. In accordance with precedents of 1824 and 
1826, however, various candidates were brought forward 
by State legislatures, such as McLean in Ohio and White 
by the Senate in Illinois, while Van Buren received the 
endorsement of the House.® At the same time the Whigs, 
in the General Assembly of the latter State went on rec¬ 
ord against State and county conventions by ‘^resolving, 
that we believe the establishment of the Convention sys¬ 
tem in this state, for the purpose of nominating all state 
and county officers, to be anti-republican, and ought not 
to be tolerated in a republican government.’^ With two 
exceptions all the Whigs present voted for the resolu¬ 
tion, and with them voted five Democrats from the south¬ 
ern part of the State.® 

Supporting this resolution were many old line "Whigs 
who cared little about the abstract principles upon which 
opposition to the convention was based, but who consid¬ 
ered that a pretense of believing the institution unrepub¬ 
lican might bring the users of it into disrepute with the 
voters, or compel them to abandon it entirely, with the 
result that a dissipation of party strength at the polls 
would come about through the introduction of indepen¬ 
dent Democratic candidates, just as had happened in the 
gubernatorial elections of 1826 and 1834. Closely con¬ 
nected with this attempt to discountenance the convention 
was the party caucus, which the Whigs used as a means 
for concentrating voting strength. Under the leadership 

5 The Western Hemisphere, January 2, 1835; Illinois Senate Journal, 
1835-1836, pp. 76 ff.; Illinois House Journal, 1835-1836, pp. 211 ft*. 

6 At about the same time the Democrats in convention endorsed the 
convention system. — See Illinois Intelligencer, October 21, 1835; also 
Sangamo Journal, December 12, 1835; and Illinois Advocate, December 17, 
1835. 



THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


171 


of Lincoln, Webb, Davidson, Edwards, and others, the 
Whig candidates were nsnally not allowed to multiply 
unduly, and in a surprisingly large number of cases 
slates were successfully made by a small group of Whig 
politicians, most of whom were members of the General 
Assembly/ 

The caucus was quite as unpopular among the people 
at large as was the convention, but the saving grace of the 
former institution was the lack of reliable information 
about it. The Democratic press protested loudly against 
it, but so long as no positive evidence of its existence 
could be brought forward, the eifect of such denuncia¬ 
tions, from an origin so partisan as were the papers of 
the time, was slight. The Democratic State Convention, 
which chose candidates for State officers in 1838, amidst 
the hisses and groans of the Whig press, was stigmatized 
by the opposition as a ^‘slaughter pen’\ Yet all the evi¬ 
dence at hand points to the truth of the charge made by 
the Democrats of the time that the Whig candidate for 
governor, Cyrus Edwards, was chosen by a midnight 
caucus made up of prominent Whigs from all over the 
State, many of whom were office-holders. Thus charges 
and counter-charges of political bossism were made so 
repeatedly by the leaders and press of both parties, that 
it is a great wonder that there was not developed in the 
minds of the voters a very great repugnance to one or the 
other system. 

Eepeated defeats at last convinced the more astute 
leaders of the Whig Party, that the people did not con¬ 
sider the growth of the convention system as a menace to 
their liberties. So much so did this feeling come to pos¬ 
sess the leaders and press, that by 1839, the desirability 

7 Both parties used the term ‘ ‘ caucus' Mn a very loose manner. See 
Cincinnati Gazette, March 4, 1830; Scioto Gazette, March 24, 1830; Cin¬ 
cinnati American, September 13, 1830; and State Register (Illinois), Sep¬ 
tember 7, 1837. 




172 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


of a nominating convention within the State was very 
generally recognized. In that year many Whig county 
conventions were held, and the culmination of the move¬ 
ment was the State Whig Convention, the first ever held 
by that party in the State, which convened at Springfield 
in October, 1839. At this convention, electors were 
chosen, committees appointed, and a definite campaign of 
action outlined.® This meeting marks the passing away 
of the old haphazard method of trusting to the Whig 
press to plan the campaign, harmonize measures, and pre¬ 
vent multiplication of candidates, and with the notable 
exception of 1842, the old plan was never again generally 
resorted to. Nor was this transition to a new and more 
definite basis of choosing candidates made without oppo¬ 
sition both from within and without the ranks of the party. 
On the one hand, the Democratic press ridiculed the 
Whigs for^their inconsistency, and justly laid claim to the 
nominating bbnvention as a Democratic institution; on 
the other hand, a faction of the party itself, respectable 
both in number and ability, opposed the innovation. 

Without taking the trouble to inquire closely into the 
real causes for the Whig successes in the Presidential 
election of 1840, Mr. Lincoln and others gave considerable 
credit for these successes to the united front of the Whig 
Party, which had been very generally brought about by a 
harmonious national nominating convention. Although 
the Democrats had carried the State for Van Biiren, those 
counties and legislative districts in which the AVhigs had 
faithfully supported the convention nominees showed an 
increased strength for that party. This close association 
of nominating conventions and political successes could 
have but one result: those who had favored the system 
during the years 1839 and 1840 were strengthened in 
their conviction, while the more conservative element was 

^ Sangamo Journal, March 16, August 9, September 20, October 4 and 
11, 1839. 



THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


173 


less sure of its ground. To say the least, the convention 
had shown its worth from the standpoint of expediency, 
and with this fact established the opposition within the 
party retreated behind the stronghold of abstract prin¬ 
ciples, professing to believe that the success of the party 
was of less importance than the preservation of liberty in 
the choice of public officials. 

Opposition to the system continued for several years. 
In 1842, a regular call was made for a State Whig Con¬ 
vention to nominate candidates for governor and lieu- 
tenant-governor, and to appoint correspondence and vigi¬ 
lance committees, but there developed such a strong oppo¬ 
sition to the plan, that it was thought advisable by the 
faction favorable to a convention to abandon it for the 
sake of harmony. Many county and legislative nominat¬ 
ing conventions were held, however, but the bright 
prospect of Whig success had the effect of bringing into 
the campaign many independent Whig candidates, with 
the result that the Democrats were uniformly successful 
in doubtful counties and districts, and made serious in¬ 
roads into such strong Whig counties as Morgan, Coles, 
and Vermilion.® 

Heretofore there had been a studied attempt on the 
part of the Whig State organization, which was favorable 
to the convention, to keep down any general discussion 
on the merits of the system, in the hope that it would 
finally prevail. But the disorganization of the party in 
the campaign of 1842, due, it was said, to the absence of 
a State convention at which campaign plans could have 
been laid, convinced the friends of the nominating con¬ 
vention that an agitation for its general adoption was 
necessary before the campaign of 1844. Accordingly, at 
a Whig meeting held at Springfield early in 1843, a com¬ 
mittee was appointed to draw up an address to the voters 

9 Alton Telegraph, March 25, 1843; manuscript election returns in the 
office of the Secretary of State, Springfield, Illinois. 




174 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


of the State; and among the issues discussed by this com¬ 
mittee was the convention/® 

The committee, which was composed of A. Lincoln, 
S. T. Logan, and A. T. Bledsoe, set forth what may well 
be considered the attitude of a majority of the Whig 
Party in Illinois towards the general system of nominat¬ 
ing conventions. 

Without wasting time to examine the principles upon 
which the opposition based its arguments, the address, 
which bears the mark of Mr. Lincoln’s hand, struck at the 
very heart of the question by pointing out that so long as 
the Democrats used the system, it was madness for the 
Whigs not to ‘ ‘ defend themselves with it ’ ’. Thus the key¬ 
note of the argument as advanced by the committee was 
expediency. Mr. Lincoln saw clearly that the old system 
was productive of disorganization and defeat; and see¬ 
ing this, he had no scruples in placing what the opposition 
called the sovereign will of the people in the hands of 
delegates selected by the people themselves. To support 
the contention, that in union there is strength, the com¬ 
mittee cited such illustrations as Aesop’s fable of the 
bundle of sticks, and the biblical admonition that ‘ ‘ a house 
divided against itself cannot stand.” 

In discussing previous defeats due to the absence of 
conventions, the gubernatorial election of 1842 received 
special attention at the hands of the committee. Ex- 
Governor Duncan, who had been the Whig candidate for 
governor in that year, was the leader of the opposition to 
the convention, in fact he had flatly refused to be the can¬ 
didate if selected by a convention of any sort. It must be 
remembered that Duncan was originally a member of the 
whole hog” Jackson Party, but he had left that party 
and joined the Whigs about 1834, because of his opposi¬ 
tion to the Democratic Convention of 1831 and to the 

10 For report of committee, see Alton Telegraph, March 25, 1843. 
Nicolay and Hay’s Lincoln, Vol. I, p. 218, mentions the address. 



THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


175 


general attitude of the Jackson administration toward 
the United States Bank. It was around Duncan as a 
leader that the various elements hostile to conventions 
had grouped themselves. As soon as the address became 
public, Duncan took exception to it, particularly to that 
part which intimated that the Whig defeat of 1842 was 
due very largely to his antagonism to the convention 
system. 

Very soon after the publication of the address, Dun¬ 
can was given an opportunity to register publicly his 
protest against what he considered an accusation. At a 
meeting of Morgan County Whigs in March, 1843, the 
following resolutions among others were adopted and 
ordered sent to Governor Duncan: “ 

1. Resolved, That we do not object to a fair expression of 
the popular will, either through primary meetings, or conven¬ 
tions so constituted as to time, place, and representation, as to 
secure its proper expression. 

2. Resolved, That when said will is expressed, it merits the 
most serious consideration; and that private feelings and indi¬ 
vidual views and preferences should yield to it unless it involves 
the sacrifice of principle. 

3. Whereas, We believe that a late political document con¬ 
veys the idea that Gov. Duncan would be unwilling to accept a 
nomination at the hands of the people expressed through a con¬ 
vention ; and whereas, we beheve that such an idea does not prop¬ 
erly express the views of Gov. Duncan: Therefore, 

Resolved, That Gov. Duncan, and also Judge Lockwood and 
Gen. Hardin, be requested to express their views to the Whigs of 
the district, in relation to the convention system, and whether 
they will consent to be candidates if chosen by the convention. 

Duncan’s reply to these resolutions embodies the 
sum total of all the opposition to the convention, besides 
incidentally touching on political issues about which little 
is known at the present time; it is therefore given in full 

11 Duncan’s reply is found in the Alton Telegraph for May 13, 1843, 
and also in the note at the end of this paper. 




176 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


in a note at the close of this paper. Hence I shall sum¬ 
marize it very briefly, calling attention only to those ob¬ 
jections which seem to have been the principal article of 
faith of the opposition. 

Being unable to deny that the nominating convention 
had concentrated voting strength, and hence had secured 
political successes, Duncan was compelled to ignore the 
question of expediency and attempt to point out the dan¬ 
gers to the government which would result from the use 
of the system. To his way of thinking, nominating con¬ 
ventions presupposed political parties, which were not 
only unnecessary in a republican form of government but 
were dangerous to the liberties of the people. Grranting 
the legitimacy of the convention, its personnel had been, 
and would no doubt continue to be, of such a nature that 
the free expression of the party could not be ascertained. 
And finally if it be granted that the will of the people 
should be expressed in the convention, the necessity of 
close organization would bring about the development of 
the professional politician whose very existence would 
depend upon office and its patronage. 

The evils pointed out by Mr. Duncan were too remote 
to have any very considerable weight in determining the 
attitude of the party toward the convention system. The 
rank and file of the Whigs desired success, and naturally 
looked to the leaders for successful guidance. Whatever 
scruples these leaders may have had were swept away by 
the necessity of leading the party to victory. To continue 
their leadership victories must be won, and to win them 
the nominating convention system, which was perhaps 
the greatest single factor in bringing success, was taken 
up and used as a means of concentrating voting strength. 

To summarize in a paragraph, one can say that the 
WHiigs were ostensibly opposed to the nominating conven¬ 
tion until the year 1839, at which time many county and 
State conventions were held. Prior to this time, the op- 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


177 


position had been largely of mere political expediency, for 
the old line Wbigs seem to have had no scruples in chang¬ 
ing their attitude when it appeared worth while to do so. 
Not so, however, with that element of the party which had 
come over from the Democrats between 1830 and 1834. 
Its defection from the Jacksonian ranks had a beginning 
in the opposition to the Convention of 1831, and ever 
afterwards it was the nucleus around which all those op¬ 
posed to the system grouped themselves. By the early 
forties this element had become relatively small, and with 
its ever decreasing influence came an increasing demand 
for the convention system. The stand made in 1842 by 
ex-Governor Duncan against overwhelming odds marks 
the real end of any considerable opposition to the nomi¬ 
nating convention by the Whigs of Illinois. 


Note. — Duncan’s reply to the resolutions adopted 
by the Morgan County Whigs in March, 1843, is as fol¬ 
lows : 

Elm Grove. 

Gentlemen: — You will see by the foregoing resolutions, 
passed at a meeting of the Whigs of this county on the 22d of 
March, that I have been called upon to give my views to the 
Whigs of this Congressional District in relation to the convention 
system, and also, to say whether I will consent to be a candidate, 
if chosen by the convention. These resolutions also allude to an 
address made to the people of the State by Messrs. Lincoln, 
Logan and Bledsoe, which was prepared in obedience to a resolu¬ 
tion of a Whig meeting of members of the Legislature and other 
citizens at the capitol, on the fourth of March. It does not, how¬ 
ever, appear to have been presented to, or approved of, by the 
meeting, but was published in the Journal of the 10th. 

I beg leave, before answering either of the inquiries put to 

12 See Alton Telegraph for February 25, March 11 and 25, April 1 
and 15, and May 6 and 13, 1843. For the attitude of Quincy Whig, Alton 
Telegraph, Charleston Courier, and Sangamo Journal, all Illinois papers, 
on the question of the convention system about 1842, see Sangamo Journal, 
October 8, 1841. 




178 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


me, to notice some of the arguments, facts and conclusions of 
that address in favor of the convention system; which I shall do, 
however, with reluctance, because some of them, though certainly 
not so intended, are considered rather reproachful to myself: and 
although I may point out some errors, and shall endeavor to re¬ 
fute the arguments and statements it contains with candor, it 
shall be in a spirit of the utmost kindness. This address strongly 
urges the convention system, and says: — “ Whether it is right 
in itself, we do not stop to inquire; contenting ourselves with 
trying to show, that while our opponents use it, it is madness in 
us not to defend ourselves with it. For example, look at the elec¬ 
tions of last year. Our candidate for Governor, with the approba¬ 
tion of a large portion of his party, took the field without a nomi¬ 
nation, and in open opposition to the system. Whereever in the 
counties the Whigs had held conventions, and nominated candi¬ 
dates for the Legislature, the aspirants, who were not nominated, 
were induced to rebel against the nominations and to become 
candidates, as it is said, ‘on their own hook.’ ” This statement 
is generally understood, as intended to convey the idea, that my 
refusal to submit to a convention, had defeated the Whig party in 
this State at the election last summer, which I think an error; 
and the intimation that I had forced myself into the held, with 
the approbation of only a portion of the party, and that candi¬ 
dates for the Legislature in some of the counties were induced to 
rebel against nominations by conventions, either by my advice or 
example, is certainly incorrect, and if intended as a censure, is 
equally unjust. The Sangamo Journal, of the 30th March, con¬ 
tains an article also addressed to the Whig party, from which I 
make the following extract, leaving you to make the application. 
After urging the Whigs to adopt the convention system, it 
says: — “If any are foolhardy enough to run as independent 
candidates, let them enjoy the singularity they court, and re¬ 
main independent and alone; in almost every instance they meet 
the fate they deserve; and while they involve themselves in politi¬ 
cal death, amid merited obloquy and scorn, we shall regret to see 
any portion of the Whig party connected with them. Banish 
from your ranks the selfish, and time-serving politician, who, not 
satisfied with his own disgrace, would desire your misfortunes to 
cover his own defeat. ’ ’ 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


179 


It is a fact kno'wn to many, that a large number of both 
political parties solicited me to become a candidate for Governor, 
as early as the winter of 1840-1, expressing their confidence that 
I could do something towards relieving the State from the em¬ 
barrassments which I had so often predicted, and had so anxious¬ 
ly attempted to avert, while I was Governor before. Under such 
influences, and with the hope that I might be able to do something, 
if elected by a union of both parties upon the State policy, among 
other good results, to allay party spirit, I made up my mind to 
become a candidate, provided the Whigs presented no other per¬ 
son; but during the fall and summer of 1841, Col. Davidson, Mr. 
Lincoln, Gen. Thornton, myself, and others, were all placed be¬ 
fore the public, and a convention was proposed to settle our re¬ 
spective claims. Having no wish from personal motives, either 
to be a candidate, or to hold the office again, and believing that 
defeat would be inevitable to any one nominated by a convention 
on party grounds, as the Whigs were in a minority of 7,000 or 
8,000, I requested Mr. Lucas to announce that I would not be a 
candidate; ' which he did in the Illinoian in November, 1841. 
About this time I left home for New York; and on my return in 
1842, in place of “taking the field,’’ I found that all those gentle¬ 
men had withdrawn, and that my name, without my knowledge, 
had been placed before the public by most of the Whig presses and 
by popular meetings of the people. Thus made a candidate, I 
employed every honorable means in my power, not only to secure 
my own election, but to harmonize our friends; and instead of 
defeating the party, although I may not have received much sup¬ 
port from some of those who were anxious for a convention, the 
vote I received was usually much larger than that given to other 
Whig candidates in the counties, and in some instances where Van 
Buren men were elected, I had large majorities over my oppo¬ 
nents. 

But as my defeat is so much relied upon, as an argument in 
favor of the convention system, it may not be amiss to inquire 
whether this defeat cannot be accounted for in some other way, 
than the want of a convention nomination; and in my opinion it 
can. Does any one doubt that Mr. Van Buren’s two trips across 
the State, just before the election, was intended to have, and did 
have, the effect to rally his party, many of whom, up to that time, 


180 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


were warmly supporting my election? In addition to this, my 
not having visited him when in Jacksonville, was magnified into 
a gross and personal insult, and was published all over the State 
for the purpose of exciting his party against me. All the public 
officers, and politicians of his party in the State, were put in 
motion; and Young and Reynolds used the Congressional franks, 
to flood the State with vile slanders against the Whig party and 
in support of my opponent. The Whigs were generally disheart¬ 
ened by their defeat in other States; most of the politicians taking 
no part in the elections, while others were bowing and scraping 
to, and parading over the country with Mr. Van Buren — a fact 
which my opponent did not fail to notice in his speeches, as the 
most conclusive evidence, that all the previous charges made 
by the Whigs against him were false and hypocritical — which he 
illustrated by telling of a son of one of the leading Whigs, who, 
on Mr. Van Buren’s arrival at Springfield, seeing his father rush 
through the crowd and sieze him by the hand, did not doubt, from 
what he had often heard his father say of Mr. Van Buren, that 
he was taking him to jail, and ran home, crying, “Mother! 
mother! they have got the traitor at last! ’ ^ 

Morgan county is named in the address as one of the counties 
where the Whigs were defeated at the last election, by a rebellion 
of disappointed candidates against the nomination of a conven¬ 
tion. The convention in this county, I learn, was composed of 
but few individuals; and several precincts were unrepresented. I 
understand that the first resolution they passed, was an act of 
proscription, declaring that no one should be nominated for any 
office he had ever held before; and that some of the persons re¬ 
fused to accept. Is there any thing in this to favor conventions ? 
Certainly not. It only shows the great danger and impropriety 
of interfering with the elective franchise of men, who are re¬ 
solved to think for themselves. Notwithstanding the denuncia¬ 
tions sent forth in advance, and all that may be anticipated, I 
must continue to express my opposition to what is called the con¬ 
vention system, such as was established by Mr. Van Buren, and 
has been practiced by his party for the last twelve years, and 
which is now recommended by a portion of our friends to be 
adopted by the Whig party as a measure of defense. Whatever 
may be the motive of this recommendation, we all know that the 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


181 


love of power is insatiable; that power is constantly stealing from 
the many to the few; and that the convention S5^stem, as used by 
the Van Burenites, is nothing more nor less than a contrivance of 
government officers, of office seekers, and men who make politics 
a trade, to take the selection of all public agents from the people, 
leaving them nothing to do but to vote as the leaders or drill- 
masters tell them. I admit to the fullest extent, the right, and 
on great occasions, the propriety, of the people to hold public con¬ 
ventions, either en masse or by representatives, to act or deliber¬ 
ate upon any subject that may interest them: and I hold that a 
measure or candidate, agreed upon by compromise, or a recom¬ 
mendation of such a convention, when it is known fairly to 
represent the wishes of the people or of a party, should have 
great weight with all, who in the main, agree with them in opin¬ 
ion. Acting upon this principle, it is well known, that when 
delegates were sent from every part of the Union to the Harris¬ 
burg Convention in 1839, to deliberate upon measures to drive 
Van Buren, (who had degraded, corrupted, and almost ruined 
the country,) from the Capitol, that I advanced fifty dollars to 
defray the expenses of the representatives from this State; and, 
although my favorite candidate was not selected, I gave Gen. 
Harrison the most cordial support. Here was a great occasion. 

The usurpations, corruptions, and mal-adminiistration of 
Government had roused the people in every part of the Union, and 
we all hoped that the success of the Whig party at that election 
would sweep Van Burenism and all its evils, from the country. 
It was not to be so. Although he was defeated by near 150,000 
majority, the blight is still upon us. But I protest against being 
made responsible for it in the remotest degree. 

For twelve years I have been opposing the corrupting and 
anti-republican policy of Mr. Van Buren, the great lever of 
which, was this inquisition, or convention system, which he com¬ 
menced establishing over the whole Union for the first time, 
while Secretary of State under Gen. Jackson. The office holders, 
the office seekers, and thousands of unprincipled demagogues, in¬ 
fluenced by the power and patronage of the government, flocked 
to his standard, and were employed in organizing the friends of 
Gen. Jackson and those of the Secretary, into a drilled and servile 
party, which they then christened and have since called the Demo- 


182 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


cratic party. Conventions were resorted to as the best means of 
perfecting this organization; and denunciation, proscription, 
slander and persecution, were the weapons freely used against all, 
and especially against the original supporters of Gen. Jackson, 
who opposed his ambitious views. Can stronger evidence of the 
evils and dangers of the convention system be desired, than the 
well known fact of Mr. Van Buren, a man without merit or claim 
upon the country, having wormed himself into the Presidential 
chair by it, and, in doing so, spread more corruption and discord 
through the country, and did more to destroy confidence in our 
free institutions, both at home and abroad, than he and all his 
friends would be able to repair if they should live a thousand 
years. Universal history proves that party spirit, even in its best 
form, when dictated by patriotism, in moments of excitement has 
often been made the instrument of much evil and of great oppres¬ 
sion. Who can doubt after the experience we have had, that the 
organization of people into parties, on the selfish, vindictive and 
proscriptive principles of Van Buren, is just as dangerous to the 
liberty, peace and safety of every honorable and independent citi¬ 
zen, as a large mercenary army of regular soldiers would be to the 
liberty and peace of the whole country? I consider that the 
Whigs, who have so long and honorably opposed this corrupt and 
dangerous system, would be just as unwise and inconsistent to 
adopt it now, even in self-defence, as this government would be 
to establish and maintain large standing armies in time of peace, 
because hereditary monarchs opposed to popular government em¬ 
ploy them. If we are to be made slaves, it matters not whether 
our masters come from the ranks of our friends or our enemies. 
I do, therefore, as a Whig, and as a citizen, ardently desiring the 
happiness and prosperity of the whole country, protest against 
this odious convention system, or any other principle of action, 
however plausibly it may be urged, “without stopping to inquire 
whether it is right; ’ ^ and I dissent entirely from an opinion also 
expressed in this address, that “they can see nothing wrong in 
applying the convention system to the nomination of candidates 
for small offices in nowise connected with parties.” This, I sup¬ 
pose has particular reference to legislative conventions, such as 
are usually held in the slaughter pen, (as it is aptly termed) by 
the Van Buren party, in which the leading politicians of that 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


183 


party about the seat of government, during the session of the 
Legislature, assemble at night to decide upon the claims of parti¬ 
sans, and also upon measures and elections that should be dis¬ 
cussed and enacted by the whole Legislature. I can view this 
slaughter pen or inquisition in no other light, than as an avenue 
through which men in power will some day lead their opponents 
to the block or the guillotine. 

It is against the spirit of freedom and of our constitution 
for a minority to rule; yet by this contrivance a few active poli¬ 
ticians about the seat of government, such as has been the case 
with the Kitchen Cabinet at Washington, and the Regency at Al¬ 
bany, can govern the legislation and manage all appointments to 
office. 

An organized party, like an army, must have captains, sub¬ 
alterns, and drill masters, who are commonly styled Committees 
of Vigilance, and expect to be rewarded for their services when 
successful, out of the spoils. Thus stimulated by ambition and 
self-interest, they meet in secret, without individual responsibil¬ 
ity or fear of detection, and then devise means for destroying 
their opponents, and for deceiving and managing the people. 
They are inquisitorial judges of the merits and demerits of all 
pei-sons in office, and recommend rewards or punishments, not 
according to services rendered and to be rendered to the country, 
but to the party. Those leaders dictate what men and measures 
the party are to support; and being themselves most interested in 
the issue, when hard pressed resort to desperate expedients. By 
their peculiar situation and influence over the party for whom 
they act, they may with impunity promise and confer the highest 
military honors, grant the public arms, and the most extraordi¬ 
nary powers; and doubtless will, if nothing less can secure success, 
give the control of the government itself, to any general, priest, or 
prophet, as a bribe for votes enough to place their party in power. 
If any one supposes such a thing impossible, let them look at the 
political movements and legislation in our own State for the last 
two or three years ; let them see the cringing of ambitious office 
seekers of both parties at the feet of the Mormon Prophet; es¬ 
pecially since he published his manifesto, in the shape of a procla¬ 
mation, declaring that he and his followers “cared not a fig for 
Whigs or Democrats; that they are both alike to them; that they 


184 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


would go for their friends, their tried friends — those who served 
them they would serve again. ’ ’ It is the avowal of such princi¬ 
ples, and by the whole legion acting and voting as one man, that 
this bold adventurer, in the short space of three years, has ob¬ 
tained control over the elections in several counties, in at least one 
congressional district, and at a general election, over the whole 
State. Formidable as this Mormon Prophet is becoming, his is 
not the only power ambitious of political sway, that he may take 
advantage of our divisions. All know that there is another large 
and powerful church in this country, whose faith in its head is 
also superior to their political opinions; and we see by repeated 
accounts of late from Europe, that extensive arrangements are 
now making to send millions of his subjects to this country. 

By this party drill, the rank and file are forced to ratify 
every bargain made by their leaders, however repugnant it may 
be to their feelings, rather than split from this party, and be 
called traitors to their principles; for experience has shown that 
most men would sacrifice their country, and compromise their 
honor, or their principles, sooner than encounter the sneers, much 
less the obloquy and scorn of a party, after having firmly en¬ 
listed under its banners. This convention system, if adopted by 
both parties, will make our government a prize to be sought after 
by political gamblers. It throws the chains of slavery and degra¬ 
dation around its votaries, prostrates the fine feelings of nature, 
extinguishes every spark of patriotism, creates jealousies, dis¬ 
trusts, and angry divisions in society, and will ultimately make us 
an easy prey to some fiend, or despot, at the head of an army or 
church, whose followers, like themselves, love the spoils of power 
better than the liberty of their country. 

When those slaughter-pen conventions are held exclusively 
by members of the Legislature, a majority of the party holding 
them — which party may be barely a majority of the whole — 
they dictate measures which two-thirds of the Legislature might 
be opposed to; by which means a large portion of the Representa¬ 
tives are arbitrarily deprived of their constitutional rights to 
participate in the adoption of measures to which they and their 
constituents are bound to submit. These conventions teach the 
people to lean upon the politicians instead of investigating, acting 
and thinking for themselves. They will always give the party in 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


185 


power great advantages over their opponents, and will enable the 
President of the United States, when at the head of either of the 
great parties, by the use of his patronage and power, nine times 
out of ten to re-elect himself, or to designate his successor; and it 
will always enable the most corrupt and active politician, who 
promises most offices, to get himself nominated in county or dis¬ 
trict conventions. 

In fact, I look upon the convention system as designed by its 
authors to change the government from the free will of the people 
into the hands of designing politicians, and which must in a short 
time drive from public employment, every honest man in the 
country. Is it not so to a great extent already? Witness the 
number of unprincipled and incompetent men which it has 
brought into office, and into the councils of the country. Congress 
is a little less than a disorderly mob, and legislatures have de¬ 
graded and ruined the country. Who are we required to or¬ 
ganize ourselves against ? Are they not our friends, brothers and 
countrymen? It is true, designing demagogues have poisoned 
their minds, excited their prejudices, and by party trammels have 
led them on to injure us, themselves, and their country; but time, 
forbearance, persevering in well-doing on our part, must convince 
the honest portion of our opponents that we are true friends to 
our country. A long period of deception and bad government on 
the part of their leaders, has opened the eyes of many; and it is to 
be hoped that they will soon throw off all party prejudice, and 
judge of public men by the honesty and wisdom of their measures. 
They will then judge correctly between the patriot, who delights 
in the honor, prosperity and happiness of his country, and the 
selfish miscreant who would divide it into parties, excite sectional 
and personal prejudices, array brother against brother, father 
against son, and the rich against the poor, that they, poor short¬ 
sighted wretches, might fill, for a season, some pitiful office. Such 
men we have among us; and I never witness the intrigues and 
management of one of them, without feeling the pity and con¬ 
tempt due to an incendiary, who would fire and desolate a city 
merely to plunder a single shop. 

Can any man at this day doubt that there is intelligence, 
patriotism and virtue enough in the Whig party, or in both 
parties, to sustain our free institutions, and carry on the govern- 


186 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


ment as our fathers did, without resorting to this party drill, or 
without putting on the shabby old coat of Locofocoism, which all 
honest men among them are now getting ashamed of, made up as 
it is of sneers, intrigues, denunciations, and dictations of men, 
seeking by such means to bring the people under the control of 
party leaders? For myself, (and I believe it is the sentiment of 
every true Whig,) “I had rather enjoy one day, one hour, of vir¬ 
tuous liberty, than to live an eternity in bondage. ’ ’ 

It is my deliberate opinion, formed by long observation of 
the spirit of the Van Buren party, that if the Whigs shall now 
consent to organize and act upon the same principles, that elec¬ 
tions in this country will become as corrupt as they are in the rot¬ 
ten boroughs of England; and that the government will soon end 
in angry contests, civil war, and perhaps in despotism. All know 
the advantage that organization, subordination, and discipline, 
give regular troops over raw militia; but experience has shown 
that citizens, who feel it to be no less a privilege than a duty to 
defend their country, though often routed, have rarely been van¬ 
quished by a mercenary army, however well appointed. Who 
doubts that if the Whigs remain firm in maintaining the laws, the 
constitutions and free institutions of the country, showing on all 
occasions a patriotism above all selfish or party triumphs, that 
the virtuous portion of all parties will throw off the shackles 
which party machinery has imposed upon them ? Then they will 
as before 1830, when the republic was pure, and as in 1840, march 
to the polls like freemen, and vote for men and measures on their 
own judgment. Then those little, intriguing politicians, who 
have of late acquired such consequence from their participation 
in the management of elections, (while honest men who support 
the government by the sweat of their brow, are at home attending 
to their business,) will have to go to work, or sink into the insig¬ 
nificance and contempt which await the loafer and selfish hypo¬ 
crite ! As this address has narrowed the contest between us and 
the Van Buren party down to three questions, to-wit: the bank, 
tariff, and distribution, which I consider of minor importance, I 
feel bound before closing this letter, to state what I consider the 
most important points at issue between the parties, because, un¬ 
less the breaches lately made and discovered by politicians in our 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


187 


Constitution are repaired, any law to protect our own industry, 
or to regulate the currency, will be little better than a dead letter 
upon the statute books. 

The Whig party, as I understand their principles, are for 
maintaining the supremacy of the law and constitution; and 
hold any public officer to be an enemy to his country, who usurps 
authority or exercises power not clearly conferred upon him by 
one or the other. 

We are for maintaining inviolate chartered rights and the 
public faith. 

We are for strict economy in carrying on the government. 

We are in favor of a tariff, or a tax, to support government; 
being levied first upon such articles as come in competition with 
those made in our own country; next upon all articles of luxury, 
leaving free of tax as far as is consistent, articles of necessity, 
such as are required by every family. 

We are for a well guarded bank, chartered by the United 
States, to act as a fiscal agent of the government, to regulate our 
currency and assist commerce, to be owned and directed chiefly 
by private stock-holders, who shall be responsible to Congress, or 
its special agent, for their strict observance of the law and their 
fidelity to the government. 

We are for reducing executive patronage. We believe that 
public officers were created to serre the country, and their duties 
should be defined by law; so that the president should have no 
power over them, except when unfaithful or incompetent. 

We believe that every private citizen and public officer 
should be left free to speak, act and vote according to his own 
judgment; and that he who attempts to control, or by an exercise 
of power or management of any kind, to abridge those rights, is 
guilty of an assault upon public liberty. 

We are opposed to proscription, and removals of competent 
public agents for their political opinions, by the executive govern¬ 
ment, because it degrades and enslaves the public officer, takes 
away his responsibility to the law and the people, and makes him 
at will, the servile tool of men in power. 

We are opposed to the ostracism practiced by Mr. Van 
Buren, which drove from the service of the country, many of our 
best, most talented, and useful citizens. 


188 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 


We are in favor of amending the constitution, to limit the 
presidential office to one term, in order to deprive the President 
of all motive to indulge an improper ambition. 

We are opposed to executive appointments of members of 
Congress to office, because we have had abundant evidence that 
it corrupts and destroys the independence of the people’s repre¬ 
sentatives, and turns their eyes from their constituents to the 
government. 

We are for some efficient plan to keep the press and judi¬ 
ciary free from executive influence. 

We are opposed to all executive control over public money 
until appropriated by law; because the Constitution wisely in¬ 
tended to make Congress or their agent the keeper of the public 
funds; and common sense teaches us that money, the lever of all 
power, should never be lodged with one who wields the patronage 
and directs the arms of the country. 

We are opposed to all government banks, sub-treasuries and 
exchequers, because either of them must greatly extend executive 
power, and because experience has shown that politicians, (and 
all government officers are of late made politicians) are not to 
be trusted with money. 

Whenever these things can be effected, and the people shall 
once more prefer the success and prosperity of the whole country 
to the triumphs of party, our Government will be pure, our 
liberties safe, and the people united, prosperous and happy. 

My answer to the inquiry, whether I will, if chosen by the 
convention to be held in this congressional district, accept the 
nomination, is, that I have no wish at this time to enter public 
life. I believe that every man in the country has the right to 
offer for any office he pleases; that he has also the right to vote 
for whom he pleases; that the people have the right to meet in 
conventions and nominate candidates; but I recognize in them 
no power to make me vote for a man that I do not believe to be 
honest, or support a measure that I do not think best for the 
country; nor to commit me in any way against my judgment or 
my principles; and if I were anxious to be a candidate, which is 
most sincerely not the case, I could not with my present views 
accept a nomination from a convention of any organized party. 

I also admit the entire right of such as may feel offended. 


THE CONVENTION SYSTEM 


189 


(though I declare no personal offence has been intended) to de¬ 
nounce me as much as they please for this letter, which has been 
written under a strong sense of duty, and not without much pain 
at being compelled to differ with so many of my best friends. 

JOSEPH DUNCAN. 











































